Demand for Space in Davey Building Tied to Parking

Expansive new commercial space on the second floor of the Davey Tree Building in downtown Kent is awaiting the opening of PARTA's new Kent Central Gateway transit center to land its first tenant.

The space, built by Cleveland developer Fairmount Properties as part of the downtown redevelopment, is sandwiched between the third-floor offices of the Davey Resource Group and first-floor retail operations for Panini's, Insomnia Cookies and Yogurt Vi.

Adam Branscomb, project manager for Fairmount Properties, said the space remains vacant until parking for a potential tenant's clients and employees becomes available downtown.

Branscomb said they plan to rely on the transit center and it's more than 300 public parking spaces to provide parking for the space.

The 365 public parking spaces in the transit center are scheduled to open this month.

"That should be tremendously helpful," Branscomb said.

He said it's been difficult to get potential tenants under contract when there are no dedicated spaces for employees.

Being commercial space, the tenants would need long-term parking, which is not available on the street. The parking lot behind the Davey and AMETEK buildings is dedicated to employees for both those businesses during the day.

Branscomb said Fairmount has had conversations with two potential tenants for the space, and he's hopeful the opening of the transit center will help fill the space.

If you're interested in leasing the space, contact Fairmount Properties at 216-514-8700.